Purdue News

January 6, 2004

Purdue Dairy Roadshow presenters to answer mad cow queries

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The effects of one confirmed case of mad cow disease in the United States will likely be felt for months as beef and dairy farmers deal with public opinion and new regulations, and a Purdue University workshop will provide some of the answers to the questions farmers are asking about the disease.

Simon Kenyon, associate professor of veterinary clinical sciences at Purdue University, said dairy producers can ask questions about the disease and the new regulations during the Purdue Dairy Roadshow meetings. The annual traveling workshop stops in 14 Indiana counties Jan. 15 through Feb. 5. Workshops are free and open to the public.

"The overriding question for the future of the cattle industry is whether the public believes that beef and dairy products are safe and wholesome," Kenyon said. "One way to ensure that safety is to create a universal identification system for cattle and other farm animals to ensure they can be traced rapidly and accurately."

The secretary of agriculture recently announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin immediate implementation of a national animal identification system as well as enacting several new regulations, some of which will affect dairy producers.

Kenyon and others at the roadshow will discuss the national identification plan and how its implementation will affect dairy producers.

Other roadshow topics include a dairy price outlook, troubleshooting milk quality problems, and nutritional and crop utilization strategies to limit nitrogen and phosphorus.

Kenyon said the nutritional strategies should help producers as they adjust to new confined feeding rules that limit the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus allowed in manure applications.